Infinity Ward promise plenty of tweaks to Modern Warfare 2 following series' biggest ever beta

Following on from Call Of Duty’s biggest beta ever, Infinity Ward have promised a host of changes to Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 based on player feedback so it’s in tip-top condition when it launches next month. Expect tweaks to footstep sounds, enemy visibility, weapon adjustments, and plenty more titbits.

In a blog post, Infinity Ward highlighted a few bits they’ll be adjusting in time for the game’s release. First off is the “volume of footsteps” and how they promise to balance both friendly and enemy audio… whatever that entails. I’ve heard mixed feedback regarding this on the interwebs, with some folks saying it’s fantastic being able to pinpoint enemy footsteps so clearly, while others argue that it’s too clear, encouraging only one playstyle: listen for footsteps, wait for enemies to round corners, then blat them.

My thoughts on the MW2 beta footstep audio? I was a fan! And didn’t necessarily find lots of players waiting to blat me round corners. If anything, it was refreshing being able to better pinpoint my sworn enemies, seeing as enemy footsteps in the previous game (and Warzone, actually) are barely perceptible.

Next, enemy visibility is being tweaked to “allow for better visual tracking of opponents that is not solely the traditional nameplate”. After the beta’s first week, Infinity Ward actually took steps to improve enemy tracking by reducing “muzzle smoke opacity”, or in other words, not making it seem like a smokebomb’s gone off every time you fire your gun at someone.

Still, some players reported that they struggled to identify enemies amidst the usual COD chaos in week two, so it’s clear the devs will continue to experiment with ways to up visual clarity without banging nameplates on top of player models. Which is an interesting decision, seeing as nameplates have been a thing in a number of COD games over the years. Perhaps they’re opting for more ‘realism’, but hey, I don’t mind nameplates being a thing, honestly.

Elsewhere, the devs hope to fix lobbies disbanding randomly so teams can better stick together, alongside lots of “weapon tuning changes” which they haven’t provided any extra detail on. I imagine the AK47U will see some tweaks, that thing is lethal.

Camera shoulder-swapping will be refined in the game’s third-person modes and the larger scale Ground War and Invasion modes are getting some bug fixes too. Oh, and some AI improvements for Invasion. Nice.

The full game launches October 28th, with Warzone 2.0 arriving later on November 16th.

Activision Blizzard publish the Call Of Duty series and they’re still facing lawsuits alleging a workplace culture that fostered sexual harassment and discrimination. Microsoft also intend to buy Activision Blizzard for $69 billion in January of this year. The deal is currently under investigation by UK regulators over competition concerns.